


Weapon of Choice

by arrows_and_fairytales



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-19
Updated: 2014-09-28
Packaged: 2018-02-17 23:03:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2326313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arrows_and_fairytales/pseuds/arrows_and_fairytales
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The weapons we choose to defend ourselves, tell the world who we are. But they are strong, as strong and as effective as we make them.</p><p>Team Arrow, with members new and old, will have to come together to face off against vengeful federal agents and villainous fathers. All while trying to stay together and remain strong.<br/><b>*No Longer Being Updated</b></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Curious Cat

Felicity Smoak was starting to believe the reason that cat died of curiosity was his inability to ignore a mystery. Maybe he was a regular Sherlock Homes. Perhaps he had an issue with leaving rocks unturned, but dammit he just couldn’t help himself! He might have developed this habit, thinking himself immune to consequences, until one day he happened to stumble upon the one problem that should have been left alone.

Now, here she was empathizing with a cat. Her life had reached new lows!

Because she might not share the same fate as the cat, but she certainly felt dead. Her life had burst into a million little pieces and she wanted nothing more than to crawl out of her body and hide away in a dark warm place where this current reality did not exist.

To believe it all started with that little file icon six months ago - the day before Starling City was almost burned to the ground.

*            *              *

It wasn’t the computer that attracted her attention that morning in the A.R.G.U.S. comm center, it was a file labeled “F. Smoak”. Under normal circumstances it would have been an in-one-ear-out-the-other situation because she had no doubt that Waller had a file on each member of Team Arrow, but the recurring theme on all the agents’ computers was various data on Slade Wilson. What connection would she have with Slade, except through Oliver and Sara? The only time she met the man he was invading the foundry hell bent on destroying them, not exactly a great way to get to know someone. But then there were car accidents, “do you understand”’s, and a blade pressed to her throat and suddenly a mysterious file was no longer her top priority.

The usb drive was cold in her palm. She turned it in her hand and played it between her fingers like it was an exotic beautiful gem. She had snapped the cap on and off at least ten times. Through it all, Diggle stood stoic next to her, not a word spoken since he handed it to her five minutes prior. Lyla had pulled strings with the few allies she still had left at A.R.G.U.S. in order to get that “F.Smoak” file. Now here it was, literally in the palm of her hand; it was as if she could sense the pandora’s box in the two inch rectangle.

She was so enraptured by it that Diggle’s hand on her arm startled her. He was now squatting next to her, one warm hand on her shoulder, the other on the arm of her chair. The sad look in his eyes increased the tension in her neck tenfold.

When he spoke, his voice was in that soft, brotherly tone that was reserved for her alone. “Felicity . . .no matter what is on that jump drive you will always be part of this family - my family.”

Felicity’s brows furrowed. She knew that John would never look at something personal without her permission--but Lyla would. “John, now you’re starting to worry me. How do you know--”

“Know what?” Oliver asked as he came down the stairs, tossing his hood back and pulling off his mask. In a few long strides he stood next to them, his concerned gaze focused on Felicity.

“Remember when we visited Waller to help track you down when you didn’t come to your mother’s funeral . . . well there was a file with my name on it - which you know normally wouldn’t be too weird considering that woman probably catalogs everything we do . . .because hello? Evil. But, the strange thing was that all of Waller’s underlings were collecting data on Slade; why would my name connected with that psycho? Besides, you of course. Not that you’re a psych-”

“Felicity.”

“Anyway, after we came back to Starling, Lyla tracked down the file and voila! Flashdrive! I still don’t know what’s on it--apparently Digg does though.” Felicity glanced over at Digg, who didn’t crack a smile, that sad look still lingering on his face.

And it was that sadness that opened the last gate of reason holding back the flood of her curiosity, which had her turning in her chair and plugging the flash drive in.

 

 


	2. The Genetics of a Monster

Like a hollow point round hitting its target, the instant the flash drive was connected at least a hundred files threw themselves across the screen: photographs, letters, audio files, and more. But it was the scanned document that landed smack dab in front of her that caught her attention. Two sets of DNA sat side by side in the middle of the document, two names above each--hers and Slade’s. The nightmare started the minute she saw the words in the dark rectangle connecting those two boxes of blurry squares: Genetic Match.

She felt at once filled with salt water tears and grime. It was as if she could pinpoint each cell in her body that was coded with his DNA. Suddenly diving into a pool of leeches seemed like an very appealing thought. So this was the curse of knowledge! It felt like a tightening noose around her neck and a glaring sign on her forehead. She was now branded--for what was the daughter of a monster if not a monster herself.

This revelation had words bubbling out of her throat, softly at first.

“Get out.” It was barely above a whisper. Neither Diggle nor Oliver moved still frozen by the DNA results that remained front and center amidst the smattering of other documents across the screens. It was the first time in her life that Felicity wanted nothing more than to hurl the computer against the cement wall and gain an iota of relief as it smashed to pieces. The utter lack of movement, of anything, was suffocating and caused something inside her to fracture.

“GET OUT!” Her scream was raw and thickened by unshed tears.

Diggle nodded once before standing up and heading for the stairs. As he passed Oliver he wrapped a large hand around Oliver’s forearm and all but dragged him along; Oliver for his part was still in such shock that he did not put up much resistance.

As soon as the foundry door slammed shut, Felicity sunk to the ground unsure when she had risen from her chair. She grasped her head in her hands desperately hoping to keep even a little piece of her from flying apart. The questions swirled in her brain forming a massive cyclone.

_How could she not have known?_

_Did Slade know?_

_Did he know when he kidnapped her?_

_Why had her mother never told her?_

_That bitch._

Felicity caught the errant thought and immediately reprimanded herself for it. She refused to recreate Moira and Thea’s relationship with her mother’s memory. Whatever reasons Donna Smoak had for not telling her daughter about her biological father were her own; reasons she had taken to the grave. Besides, there was no use in arguing with the dead.

There was one question that was festering beneath the rest, oozing pain and self-hatred, and slowly morphing into a statement.

Oliver will hate me.

 

“Dig, stop. . . .Diggle!” Oliver yanked his arm from the man’s grip, taking a step back.

Although he did not step towards him, Diggle leveled Oliver with a warning glance. “You can’t go back in there. Not right now.”

Oliver’s shoulders collapsed with the strength of the sigh he let out. Because Laurel was wrong, it was not her, but Felicity that knew him better than her own name. And it worked both ways, for while Oliver did not know much of her family history--clearly his background search had left out the crucial detail of her paternity--he felt that he could say with confidence he knew who Felicity Meghan Smoak was at her core. And he knew without a doubt, that the only thing that Felicity and Slade Wilson had in common was genetics. She was his girl, his best friend, his partner and thirteen chromosomes from the devil himself wouldn’t change that.

His voice was soft when he responded to Dig. “I can’t leave her.”

Dig released his own sigh and made his way out of Verdant.

Oliver took a step back and leaned against the foundry door. The words he had reassured Felicity with after his fight with the Count ran through his head, _there was no choice to make_. It still held true now, because when it came to Felicity Smoak there would never be a choice to make. He would always choose her, no matter who her father was.

There was one question that continued to bother him, though.

_Did Slade know?_

 

The concrete absorbed the click of the woman’s heels as she walked towards the iron bars. To the naked eye, this man that had torn apart an entire city did not seem the least bit intimidating, but the woman knew better. She knew that even devoid of Mirakuru, he was still a lethal soldier. He matched her step for step until they stood facing each other--with only the metal bars between them.

“Have you come here to torture me?” His voice was steady and controlled, but the undercurrent of hatred and anger was unmistakable.

“No Mr. Wilson, I have come to give you good news.” The woman’s voice was as cold as his. “It appears that you have a daughter. Her name is Felicity Smoak.”

The woman did not wait for a reaction before turning on her heel and climbing the stairs.

Oliver Queen would learn that she was not a puppet to be used in his crusade for justice. At the end of the day, Amanda Waller would **always** have the last word.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on tumblr for chapter previews: arrows-and-fairtytales.tumblr.com


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